Trump showed classified documents to people, report says

Federal prosecutors have evidence that Donald Trump showed classified documents to people, the Washington Post reported on Thursday, citing unidentified sources.

The development could raise the stakes for the ex-president, if it exposes him to serious action under the Espionage Act, of wilfully communication national security documents rather than simply retaining them, which is rarely charged.

The movement of boxes in and out of a storage room at Mar-a-Lago, Trump's Florida resort, has been a key focus for prosecutors, because that was where Trump's lawyer, Evan Corcoran, concentrated when he searched the property for classified documents.

Corcoran found roughly 40 classified documents in the storage room and told the Justice Department no further papers remained on the property. But the FBI seized 101 classified documents two months later, including from the storage room in question.

The central question for the Special Counsel, Jack Smith, has been whether Trump arranged for classified documents to be removed from the storage room before Corcoran searched there, to illegally retain them, even though he had been told he could not.

When the chief judge, Beryl Howell, had Corcoran to testify to a grand jury, she opined in a 86-page legal memo she believed when Trump went through boxes to give materials back to the National Archives last year.

The Post attributed the rehearsal line to officials, though it was reported in Howell's legal opinion that was reported in March.

However, it remains uncertain if the Special Counsel has evidence that Donald Trump's response to the archives was a dry run to commit obstruction of justice.

Prosecutors have also developed evidence that Trump employees at Mar-a-Lago last year brought boxes of documents back to the storage room the day before Justice Department officials came to collect classified documents that had been subpoenaed.

While he has denied wrongdoing, his defense is based on his near-unfettered ability as president to declassify documents. The Justice Department has viewed the argument as a straw man, because he is actually under investigation for retaining national security materials.

The statue at issue is Article 793 e of the US Code, which makes no mention of whether documents are classified. If prosecutors were looking to charge Trump with classified documents retention, Trump's statue at issue would actually be section 798.

This is nothing more than a targeted, politically motivated witch hunt against President Trump, a Trump spokeswoman said. In addition to Donald Trump, the public is being investigated over the storage of classified documents. After leaving the White House, Joe Biden and Mike Pence, Trump's vice president, have also been found to retain records.

The clear frontrunner for the Republican nomination faces trial on 34 charges related to his hush-money payment to a porn star, including sexual abuse and defamation in a case brought by a writer who allegedly rape, faces state and federal investigations of his election subversion, and faces a New York state civil suit over his business practices.

He denies all wrongdoing and claims to be the victim of political persecution, a stance that has propelled him to a 30-point lead in primary polling.